How can organic agriculture contribute to long-term climate goals?

The EU countries aim to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 80-95% by 2050 (European Commission, 2011). The food sector accounts today for 25% of Swedish greenhouse gas emissions, most of which arise in agricultural production, so there is a need for radical reduction of GHG emissions in this sector. For organic farming in Sweden, this implies that it is time to move beyond the discussion on whether organic products have a lower or higher life-cycle climate impact than conventional products (Cederberg et al 2011). Instead, the interesting question is: What can and should be done to drastically reduce the climate impact of organic agriculture? The science-based response to that question is relevant for Swedish agriculture as a whole. Development towards lower climate impact from organic agriculture requires further monitoring and technology development to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide. But it also involves developing production systems that are more efficient in the use of nutrients, energy and land, as well as shifting focus from producing animal food towards more legume, grain, vegetable and fruit products

The Field-effect Transistor as a Mixer

The objective of this dissertation is to analytically and experimentally investigate the field-effect transistor as a mixer. The areas of study undertaken are: 1. Analysis of the parameters affecting mixing action. 2. Static-bias potentials for optimum mixing. 3. Conversion noise figure. This area also involves the correlation between amplifier and mixer noise factors. 4. Cross-modulation distortion. 5. High frequency mixing

Organic farming without fossil fuels - life cycle assessment of two Swedish cases

Organic agriculture is dependent on fossil fuels, just like conventional agriculture, but this can be reduced by the use of on-farm biomass resources. The energy efficiency and environmental impacts of different alternatives can be assessed by life cycle assessment (LCA), which we have done in this project. Swedish organic milk production can become self-sufficient in energy by using renewable sources available on the farm, with biogas from manure as the main energy source. Thereby greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production system can be reduced, both by substituting fossil fuels and by reducing methane emissions from manure. The arable organic farm studied in the project could be self-sufficient in energy by using the residues available in the crop rotation. Because of soil carbon losses, the greenhouse gas emission savings were lower with the use of straw ethanol, heat and power (9%) than by using ley for biogas production (35%). In this research project, the system boundaries were set at energy self-sufficiency at farm or farm-cluster level. Heat and fuel were supplied as needed, and electricity production was equal to use on an annual basis. In practice, however, better resource efficiency can be achieved by making full use of available energy infrastructure, and basing production on resource availability and economic constraints, rather than a narrow self-sufficiency approach

Frequency domain model for analysis of paralleled, series-output-connected Mapham inverters

The Mapham resonant inverter is characterized as a two-port network driven by a selected periodic voltage. The two-port model is then used to model a pair of Mapham inverters connected in series and employing phasor voltage regulation. It is shown that the model is useful for predicting power output in paralleled inverter units, and for predicting harmonic current output of inverter pairs, using standard power flow techniques. Some examples are compared to data obtained from testing hardware inverters

Distortion and regulation characterization of a Mapham inverter

Output voltage Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of a 20kHz, 6kVA Mapham resonant inverter is characterized as a function of its switching-to-resonant frequency ratio, f sub s/f sub r, using the EASY5 engineering analysis system. EASY5 circuit simulation results are compared with hardware test results to verify the accuracy of the simulations. The effects of load on the THD versus f sub s/f sub r ratio is investigated for resistive, leading, and lagging power factor load impedances. The effect of the series output capacitor on the Mapham inverter output voltage distortion and inherent load regulation is characterized under loads of various power factors and magnitudes. An optimum series capacitor value which improves the inherent load regulation to better than 3 percent is identified. The optimum series capacitor value is different than the value predicted from a modeled frequency domain analysis. An explanation is proposed which takes into account the conduction overlap in the inductor pairs during steady-state inverter operation, which decreases the effective inductance of a Mapham inverter. A fault protection and current limit method is discussed which allows the Mapham inverter to operate into a short circuit, even when the inverter resonant circuit becomes overdamped

Effects of Previous Hybrid on Corn Yields the Following Year

Approximately 25% of Iowa\u27s annual 12.5 million acres of corn is grown where corn was grown the previous year. With adequate N fertilizer, corn following corn usually yields less than corn following soybeans or some other crop. The magnitude of this yield reduction usually is about 10%, but it varies between fields, locations and years. During 1988 in southeastern Iowa, farmers and researchers reported yield differences as great as 100 bufacre between the yield of corn after soybeans and corn after corn. There are many possible explanations for the rotation effect such as differences in residual soil moisture, soil nitrogen, soil compaction or structure, soil microflora, corn root worm and diseases. Sometimes the yield difference can be related to one or more of these explanations, but not with any consistency. It becomes impossible to characterize the interaction of these various factors with each other in highly variable field environments. Many studies have been conducted attempting to relate substances left by corn which is toxic to the following corn crop or stimulatory substances left by soybeans; this phenomenon of one crop affecting another crop by substances left in the environment is called allelopathy (Anderson et al. 1988)

Failure of a Pipeline in an 800-year Old Debris Fill

In June of 1994 a 20-m section of 1.4-m diameter, restrained-joint, ductile iron pipe failed during construction of a new section of water pipeline for the city of Cairo in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The failure occurred in an area where the pipe was supported on piles, and compacted silica sand was used as side support for the pipe. Soil above the crown of the failed section of pipe was 6 m or more in thickness. Results of a detailed review of the failure revealed that a number of unique and related factors apparently caused the failure. The most significant of these causes was the native soil surrounding the pipeline, which was formed from an accumulation of 800 years of building and construction debris. At the location of the failure the debris was in excess of 15-m thick. When subjected to water at this location, this debris underwent significant settlement, which eventually led to loss in side support for the pipeline. To repair the pipeline and to avoid future similar failures, a utilidor was used to protect the pipeline in areas where overburden thickness was greater than 4.5 m, and a pipe encasement was used where the overburden thickness was less

Climate change, loss of (bio)diversity, natural ressource depletion, social marginalization etc: Our adaptation and mitigation contribution

The environmental and social challenges of the planet are a sad reality. Organic Agriculture advocates often espouse its contributions to mitigating the negative effects of farming. But mitigation alone is not enough. Farmers also need to adapt to a changed climate, reduced biodiversity and depleted resources as well as to an ever-changing socio-cultural environment

Organic Agriculture in the landscape of sustainability initiatives

Organic is not the only initiative with the aim of improving sustainability in agriculture. There is a wide array of approaches, perspectives, priorities and levels of ambition. Certain initiatives are seen as complimentary to Organic Agriculture and use it as a basis. Others are viewed as followers, competitors or – due to lower sustainability requirements – even as "greenwashers". As not all assessments of standards and impacts recognize a leading position for Organic farming, there is room for improvement